More than 30,000 child safety seats are being recalled this month, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which warns the seats may fail to properly secure young passengers in the event of an auto accident.
Florida accident attorneys, defective product lawyers and child injury attorneys at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers urge parents to check their child seats to see if they are part of the recall and to make sure they are otherwise in proper working order.
Click here to enter your zip code into a national database for the nearest location for a safety seat inspection by a qualified professional. Such inspections are available free at many fire stations and hospitals throughout Southwest Florida, including Lee County, Charlotte County and Collier County.
The current recall affects 31,392 Britax Frontier child restraint systems. The child safety seats could fail to properly secure young passengers in the event of a crash, according to the NHTSA.
“It is extremely important that parents and caregivers are aware of the recall and take action to get their child restraints repaired,” said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Kelly.
Britax is recalling the seats because the harness straps may detach from the metal yoke on the back of the child restraint if repeatedly loosened one strap at a time. Affected models include the Britax Frontier models E9L54E7, E9L54H6, E9L54H7, and E9L54M6 manufactured on or before Sept. 14, 2008 and model E9L5490 manufactured on or before Sept. 17, 2008.
Click here for more information about the recall.
The NHTSA also encourages parents and caregivers to sign-up to receive updates about child seat recalls via e-mail. The agency’s research shows that less than half of affected consumers respond to recalls.
“One of the reasons we see such a low return rate is because owners are difficult to reach if they have not registered the seat with us or the manufacturer,” said Kelly.
Consumers can sign-up for recall notifications from the federal government by visiting www.safercar.gov and clicking on the “E-mail” or “RSS” option to register. Consumers with questions about this or any other safety recall campaign may call NHTSA’s toll-free Vehicle Safety Hotline 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153).
Companies have an obligation to provide safe products to consumers — your purchase is their profit. When companies fail, people can be seriously injured or killed.
If you or someone you love has been seriously injured or killed by a defective product, there are certain steps you can take to help protect your rights. The child injury attorneys and defective product lawyers at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner Personal Injury Lawyers offer free appointments to discuss your rights at any of the firm’s conveniently located offices throughout Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Arcadia, Port Charlotte, Sebring and Venice.